Digital signal processors (DSPs) are special-purpose processors utilized for digital processing. Digital signal processing algorithms typically require a large number of mathematical operations to be performed quickly and efficiently on a set of data. DSPs thus often incorporate specialized hardware to perform software operations that are often required for math-intensive processing applications, such as addition, multiplication, multiply-accumulate (MAC), and shift-accumulate. Such basic operations can be efficiently carried out utilizing specialized high-speed multipliers and accumulators.
A vector processor implements an instruction set containing instructions that operate on vectors (i.e., one-dimensional arrays of data). The scalar DSPs, on the other hand, have instructions that operate on single data items. Vector processors offer improved performance on certain workloads.
PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US12/62186, filed Oct. 26, 2012, entitled “Processor Having Instruction Set with User-Defined Non-Linear Functions for Digital Pre-Distortion (DPD) and Other Non-Linear Applications,” discloses a processor that supports non-linear functions that include one or more parameters specified by a user, such as filter coefficient values or values from a look-up table (LUT). While the disclosed techniques have significantly improved the performance of software implementations of DPD and other non-linear applications, a need remains for digital processors, such as DSPs and vector processors, having an instruction set that supports a sliding window non-linear convolution function.